The Death of New York Pan - 2017

What a sad show - with WIADCA as the "Evil Empire" up for best actor and USSA up for best supporting actor for the role of "King Stupid".  

USSA you betrayed the New York pan community.

If I was WIADCA, I would not pay the steelbands for 2016 and 2017. They did not play on any stage.  And they sent the judges home. This was not a Panorama. I've seen better band launches than this.

So sad. RIP.

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  • Every one that has some interest in  the Steelband/Pan knows it's just money going out  and none  coming in, this is not braking news, as a matter of fact it's a good thing the government is pulling back on funding because it's them that created the welfare mentality with steelbands and made it easy for unscrupulous individuals to profit off the backs of players. This is what Panorama did, maybe the time has come to remove it from around carnival so steelband can take to the road and make a dollar for themselves. We are not to be fooled by those that try to make you believe that the Steelband is a financial burden for the Government and Sponsors because the funds they give is a pittance This economic downturn in the Mecca could be a  blessing in disguise for the steelband movement it could be a time to reassess their role in everything. 

    • That's not true CH, Public Knowledge/ Public Domain, NEWS / NEWSDAY SECTION A Saturday January 9, 2010 Page 5 By Darcel Choy reads "Minor cut in NCC allocation, $32 M for pan, mas, calypso. PAN, Mas and calypso have to share a thin slice of $122 million allocated to the National Carnival Commission (NCC) this year, It is expected that this sum would not be enough to help Pantrinbago, the National Carnival Bands Association and the Trinidad Unified Calypsonians Organization, to cover the cost of their major shows, but Culture Minister Marlene Mc Donald said, this was what the NCC could only afford, and appealed to the private sector to come foward with financial support... I will be posting this article on WST so Y'ALL can read/judge for yourselves, all this was in 2010, and I know for a fact that the real total was $250, a quater billion T&T DOLLARS, they only admit to getting $122 million tt dollars, what happened to the rest OF WE MONEY??? do not believe anything these crooks say CH...

      • That's not true CH, Public Knowledge/ Public Domain, NEWS / NEWSDAY SECTION A Saturday January 9, 2010 Page 5 By Darcel Choy reads "Minor cut in NCC allocation, $32 M for pan, mas, calypso. PAN, Mas and calypso have to share a thin slice of $122 million allocated to the National Carnival Commission (NCC) this year, It is expected that this sum would not be enough to help Pantrinbago, the National Carnival Bands Association and the Trinidad Unified Calypsonians Organization, to cover the cost of their major shows, but Culture Minister Marlene Mc Donald said, this was what the NCC could only afford, and appealed to the private sector to come foward with financial support... I will be posting this article on WST so Y'ALL can read/judge for yourselves, all this was in 2010, and I know for a fact that the real total was $250, a quater billion T&T DOLLARS, they only admit to getting $122 million tt dollars, what happened to the rest OF WE MONEY??? do not believe anything these crooks say CH...

    • Cec all that is good but we need people with vision and with the interest of the improvement of pan as a whole at heart. Panorama could exist outside of carnival and be viable and very successful. The international festival which took place outside of carnival attests to that. Pan people have to think outside the box. I teach pan and live by it, been doing so for years. Bands should be charging people who come to learn to play.Right now people come to play around carnival time and for panorama. They learn a tune. That's how we have operated 4 years. Time to stop. Have specific training programmes,have given days teach scales,triads,proper hand techniques, rolling and strumming ,that,s what I do before I teach a song to my students. Anyone who comes to me wanting to learn tunes I direct them to a panyard. People playing pan for years don't know a scale, how to form a major or minor chord. These are the first things u learn when playing guitar and cuatro. Pan people are among the most musically illiterate people in the world.Everybody don't have to learn to read & write music, but should have an understanding of keys and chords znd know d letter names of d notes they are playing. Why u think on  ash Wednesday bands can't remember their panorama tune, because they learn by ROTE, they don't understand the music they are playing. Pan people should have a rate card like other musicians, showing charges according the type of event. We cannot continue how we going, we have to become more professional in our approach.

      • Not  hearing from JJJ the man with the most experience. He live and tour all over the world and T& T.We want to take the thing forward . U must have some ideas. Make some input schoolbuddy. LOL

        • Hey school-buddy, just sitting back watching and listening to the B/// S//t, these guys R implying/saying, U and I knows that word are expressions of thoughts, and everyone has a right to that, so I'm just implementing what the man Anthony Williams thought me/said, we only know what we know therefore, just sit back watch and listen, because when U stay rigid, hidden things WILL NOT reveal it self to U...

  • Here is a quote from a man in Trinidad whose 80-year-old mother was killed in her home: "We are a culture of tolerant people and I think we need to be less tolerant, more demanding, and less fearful. It seems that everyone is always afraid of repercussions .... We are afraid of saying the wrong things and not having the parties in power give [US] aid or jobs.” 

    On reading about the NEW YORK PANORAMA crisis this weekend, I was thinking about the political culture that influenced the mindset of PAN MEN. But this grieving son expanded the LIVING FIELD across all aspects of the society. We could talk change until we are blue in the face but until we untangle our minds from the political slavery -- nothing is going to change. To make matters worse, any attempts to bring change will only be a starting point that would not reveal results in under 25 years, allowing incompetence and corruption to prevail as we see today.

    So our generations will always be trapped in a life sentence of OLE TALK and MORE OLE TALK. It is not that WE LIKE IT SO -- it is that we were conditioned to ACCEPT IT SO!!!

    • I wrote this on another forum to one of my friends Cecil Hinkson. He said that I was a "doom " writer and opposed to the steelband. Do you agree anyone with that I am opposition to the steelband?. I have been writing for years this same concept and saying this day will arrive all around the world, where steelbands will be disrespected eventually simply because they are in a begging mode of operation. And they cost a hell of a lot of money. This begging condition must be changed to where they have their own money in this 21st century or else they will not make it through this century. Do you agree? Here goes.

      From the other forum
      Cecil, I am a realist. I look at the reality. Sometimes reality means to stop the "pie in the sky dreaming" illusion platform. So it appears as anti illusion. Illusion is mistaken for reality sometimes. In the case of pan coming back unto the road in full or street party (blockorama) at carnival in T&T, this is an illusion at this time. The government of T&T do not really care for the steelbands. This is a reality check. They see them as consumers of State funds rather than profitable options. They are a cost to the State is what government officials say all the time. If you notice, and I hope you do notice, that the same pattern of State officials across the globe any where the pan is played is cutting back on monies spent. The carnivals across the globe, the Panoramas across the globe any where they are held less and less attention is given to the steelbands at these events. Every where the steelbands are treated in this way. There is also a reason for this. The steelband movement comes across as a big beggar movement from both government and business community. The sponsoring system started by Eric Williams has seen its time. The time is nigh for it. This is why I preached the philosophy of changing the beggar system to the steelband movement owning their own assets quite apart from their pans only. That just one asset. But even in gaining and maintaining this asset they have to beg others. The steelband movement has to do it differently in this 21st century. Its called self ownership-self help, self actualization, self interest, and self awareness. This is what this century brings my dear childhood friend. The time for begging from others is coming to and end. There are too many opportunities now for big organizations like the pan movement to continue to beg. Pan Trinbago should have done better in this regard as they boasted about being the world movement for pan internationally. But that cannot be a non profit begging donations and subsidies movement. That is coming to and end. There is the Internet where millions of funds can now be raised if one knows how. That was not there in the 20th century. So the begging thing is the main keep back of the steellband movement now. Both governments, other world authorities and businessmen are reducing funds now. The steelbands are costly things to run and it takes a lot out of government/authorities to cater for them in a yearly basis. This goes for the business sponsors. So things are not what they use to be in the 20 th century. This has to be realized by everyone involved in the steelband movement. The young generation that is interested in the movement are not going to waste time begging as well. They will join for sometime and move on. This is what we see at Panorama time. After Panorama they are gone. What makes it worst they don;t get paid on time and the pay is carrot feed. From $1000 reduced now to $500 and next year it may be $300 and so on. This is nonsense. There fore all these things have reduced the incentives for steelband to come out in any big way on carnival days. Then you have the decibel problem with the DJs as I have been pointing out. So the steelband movement unless it rethinks its entire 21st century strategy can become eventually extinct. This is a glaring reality- In other words the movement without any serious turn around is calling their own doom. What the movement need is to become a World Body of pan which takes all the international bands into Account. The Big5 is unto this concept or so I think. I am not quite sure as yet as I have not joined then in any way. But it should aim for this. The Foundation should have International funds in the billions by various ways. It is from that funds and more coming in each year that steelbands can be funded along with raising their own funds and staging their own shows. Steelbands should have nothing to do with government funds. It is does not reach to this in this 21st century, the movement will die a natural death eventually. No one will bother with it. This does not mean the pan itself will become extinct. But have large steel bands will come to an end if it keeps on going the way of simply begging to remain alive. This is the reality and a doom philosophy. What is a doom philosophy is what is happening to them worldwide as we write and speak. It is never possible to do the same things without changing any thing and expect change to take place. That does not exist.

      • Cecil , Sidd talking the truth. I agree with him wholeheartedly. Time for the gimme,gimme syndrome to stop.Not only with pan. This is the malaise of the TT society.Steelbands have to b run like business and the lowlifers who hanging around for personal gain and not helping the bands move forward in a positive way where they become successful entities, have to b weeded out. After the pan parasites are out only then would we b able to see meaningful progress.

        • Sherman What I speak about here is allowing the Steelband 8-10 hours on the road Carnival Monday afternoon, let them sell their Tshirts and have fun on the road . That's it..

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